An extraordinary selection of artists from the United States, Japan, Egypt and Italy will be protagonists with previews and exclusive meetings.
The Coconino Press announces his presence a Lucca Comics & Games 2024 with a team made up of five great international authors and numerous emerging Italian talents. Among the prominent names, give it United States the famous one will arrive in Italy for the first time Daniel Clowesrecently awarded the Fauve d’Or di Angoulême for his graphic novel Monica. On the occasion of the event, he will preview the complete Italian edition of Eightballthe collection of issues of his famous comic book which includes masterpieces such as Ghost World e Like a velvet glove forged in iron.
Dal Japana trio of comic masters will make their debut in Italy: Baron Yoshimotoa manga veteran, will introduce the series The legends of judotranslated for the first time outside Japanese borders thanks to Tissuethe editorial brand of Coconino. Yamada Sansuke it will instead be present with the new volumes of the series StardustWhile Usamaru Furuya will premiere his new series 51 ways to protect it.
Another notable presence will be that of Deena MohamedEgyptian author who has already won multiple awards for her graphic novel Shubbek Lubbekwhich will be displayed within the exhibition Kalimatuna, our words of freedom at the Doge’s Palace. Mohamed is one of the most innovative new voices in international comics, capable of combining social criticism and an original aesthetic that has won over audiences and critics.
Italy will be represented by an equally varied and promising group. Among these, it stands out Bianca Bagnarellia young author who achieved great success thanks to her cover for the The New Yorker in early 2024, quickly went viral on social media. In Lucca, Bagnarelli will present a preview of his collection of comic stories entitled Pets.
They will also be present Alessandro Totawith his new comic The magnificent illusionand other Italian authors such as Andrea Settimo, Pietro Scarnera, Million, Daniel Kong, SPAM the Psychic Mandarin, Roberto Grossie Michele Peroncini. Everyone will participate in a rich program of previews, autograph sessions at the stand in Piazza Napoleone and meetings with the public.
With the participation of internationally renowned authors and young Italian talents, the 2024 edition of Lucca Comics & Games promises to be an unmissable event for comics fans, offering a unique overview of global trends and new emerging voices in the world of ninth art.
Roberto Grossi
The great removal
In bookstores from October 22nd
In a real comic essay, as passionate and intense as a novel, Roberto Grossi asks the burning questions that concern the future of all of us and of the next generations in the face of global warming and the environmental emergency. A book that connects the climate issue to social and political ones, inviting readers to change the system and using beautiful images as an integral part of the discussion.
Suehiro Maruo
The Vampire Who Laughs – Complete Edition
Previewed in Lucca – In bookstores from November 1st
A 130-year-old female vampire stalks the students of a modern-day Japanese middle school. Two of them, Luna and Konosuke, are enchanted by his charm and transform into a diabolical couple who kill to quench their thirst for blood, chasing the crazy dream of eternal youth. The path of the two vampires will cross with the fate of Makoto, a boy in search of his little sister Miko, who mysteriously disappeared years before… In this story Maruo Suehiro, refined and brutal manga author, merges the timeless myth of the vampire with a ruthless social criticism on contemporary Japan, on its anxieties and neuroses, on the education of young people. In narrating the story of the vampire, an always dissatisfied monster and embodiment of the dream of eternal life, the author portrays the growing problem of juvenile delinquency and violence and the practice of enjokosai (high school students who prostitute themselves in order to buy designer shoes and clothes). Published in Japan on the pages of the magazine “Young Champion” starting in 1998, “The Laughing Vampire” is the first manga by Maruo to arrive in Italy way back in 2000. Today, twenty-four years later, it returns to bookstores in a new edition, with a new translation and extra content. The entire vampire saga in a single, unmissable volume.
Bianca Bagnarelli
Pets
Previewed in Lucca – In bookstores from November 1st
Bianca Bagnarelli, appreciated as one of the greatest illustrators internationally and who rose to prominence this year for her first cover for the prestigious weekly “The New Yorker”, is taking part in Lucca Comics & Games 2024. She will present a preview of her new book “Animali domestica”, an anthology published by Coconino Press which collects for the first time in volume his short comic stories which appeared in various publications, plus some unpublished ones. Those of “Domestic Animals” are moving and merciless stories at the same time, and have ordinary people as protagonists, caught in a key moment of their existence. Bianca Bagnarelli talks about the silent threats that besiege our comfort zones, the great compromises and small cruelties that shape us, the solitudes nestled in the interstices of social life and the indefinable nuances of feelings. They are stories of pets, us humans, which the author defines in a ruthless light, devoid of any complacency.
Daniel Clowes
The Complete Eightball
Previewed in Lucca – In bookstores from November 1st
Crazy, greedy preachers! Conspiracy theories! Superheroes with psychiatric problems! Lovely, heartbroken little girls! “The complete Eightball” is the complete collection of the first 18 issues of the comic book which between 1989 and 1997 made the world aware of the corrosive and tragicomic talent of Daniel Clowes, one of the masters of American comics, who inspired an entire generation of authors. In addition to numerous stories previously unpublished in Italy, this volume contains the first serialization of graphic novel masterpieces such as “Ghost World” and “Like a velvet glove forged in iron” and letters addressed to the magazine by readers and other well-known cartoonists of the
very lively American underground scene. In addition, Clowes’ comments on his stories and an essay written at the dawn of 2000, “Modern Cartoonist”, in which the author takes stock of the nature and future of comics with reflections that are still very relevant today. “The Complete Eightball,” with its brilliant and sarcastic look at America at the end of the millennium, offers the definitive compendium of our society’s fears and paranoia. And it will remain, as director Ari Aster said, “one of the most important works of art of the twentieth century.”
Massimo Mattioli
I’m the magician
Previewed in Lucca – In bookshops from 8 November
After the success of Squeak the Mouse e Joe Galaxyfinally arrives in Italy too I’m the magicianone of the most famous works resulting from the genius of Massimo Mattioli. Made in France between 1968 and 1973 for the magazine Pif Gadgetthe strip features a decidedly extravagant cast: a funny sorcerer, complete with cloak, top hat and magic wand; a ravenous chameleon; two Martians determined to conquer the world; insects, flowers and mushrooms of various shapes and kinds, all endowed with the gift of speech. Designed as a product for children, the comic evolves quickly with a surreal comedy that tends towards the absurd and poetic. Mattioli is inspired by the classic stripes, primi
among all B.C. of Johnny Hart e Krazy Cat by George Herriman, from whom he takes up the dazed approach and the taste for playing with the codes of language. Completely new so far in Italy, I’m the magician is a cult book for readers of all ages, which stands as the ancestor of Pinky and the standard bearer of every non-conformist comic.
Baron Yoshimoto
The legends of judo – Volumes 1 and 2
Previewed in Lucca – In bookshops from 8 November
Baron Yoshimoto’s recognized masterpiece, The legends of judofinally arrives in Italy in an edition with the Doku brand of Coconino Press. Translated for the first time outside the borders of Japan, The legends of judo (in Japanese: Jūkyōden) is one of the most important titles of the movement gekiga seventies, so famous that it later generated an entire comic saga lasting more than nine thousand pages. Through the stories of some judokaBaron Yoshimoto tells the history of Japan, from the Meiji period to the seventies: each saga is dedicated to a member of the same family, whose events are intertwined with the destinies of history. The two volumes published with the title The legends of judo they tell the story of Yanagi Kankurō, a young judoka who, at nineteen, moves to Tokyo to live up to his father’s will. Arriving in a city shaken by the modernization of the Meiji period, Kankurō will become a champion of the weakest, find love and fight for his ideals.
Yamada Sansuke
Stardust – Volumes 6 and 7 (of 7)
Previewed in Lucca – In bookshops from 8 November
The two final volumes of the winning mangaka Sansuke’s exciting series arrive together of the 2020 ACBD Critique Asia Prize, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and the Japan Cartoonist Association Grand Prize. Stardust tells the story of Kuroda and Kawashima, two former Japanese soldiers who are veterans of the Second World War, who after sharing the harshness of the front meet by chance in a Tokyo destroyed and occupied by the American army. Different in appearance, character and social background, they face together the struggle for survival in a city where people go hungry and drown their pain in alcohol, where criminal organizations and illegal trafficking thrive and where young women, driven by poverty, they are sold to US troops. The lives of Kuroda and Kawashima are on the brink of the abyss, in a country that must mourn the defeat and mistakes of the past.
Furuya Usamaru
51 Ways to Protect It – Volumes 1 and 2 (of 5)
Previewed in Lucca – In bookshops from 1 November (vol. 1) and from 6 December (vol. 2)
One of the most loved and popular manga series by the visionary Furuya Usamaru returns: in contemporary Japan, torn apart by natural disasters and social crises, a dramatic and compelling story develops that combines elements of survival, psychological introspection and investigation into human relationships. The daily life of the two protagonists, Mishima Jun and Okano Nakako, is suddenly turned upside down by a devastating earthquake. Seismic tremors shake Tokyo, reducing buildings to rubble and leaving survivors at the mercy of chaos. Will our heroes be able to survive in this post-apocalyptic nightmare?
Daisuke Igarashi
Designs – Volumes 1 and 2 (of 5)
Previewed in Lucca – In bookshops from 1 November (vol. 1) and from 6 December (vol. 2)
What if science could mix humans and animals? This is the case of the “humanized animals” protagonists of the manga series Designswhose genes are designed to give these new hybrid beings specific and extraordinary abilities. Used for questionable purposes and created for mysterious purposes, AUs may be part of a larger plan that affects the future of all humanity. Ethics, profit, ideology… What is the limit? Designs marks the return to Italy of Daisuke Igarashi, cult artist, refined designer and creator of unique and intriguing universes. A complex and fascinating work of science fiction, in which the author reflects on the post-human and the limits of science and technology.
